Thursday, 7 March 2013

One of the best things about relief teaching? Seeing how other teachers work: seeing how their classrooms are set up; what resources they have (and actually use); what procedures and routines they have in place; the amazing lesson and unit plans and ideas; and what tricks of the trade they've discovered. I love it all! My days always end with a list of resources, ideas or routines that I want to investigate for myself. Sometimes I reflect on a resource and decide that it works well in that context but isn't necessarily a good match for me. Other times I'm blown away by the ingenuity of my fellow teachers. We are a creative bunch!

You know this stuff right?

So many new things to investigate this week but fairly close to the top of my list: dice mats. How much do you NOT love the sound of dice rolling across desks? The solution is so simple! Small mats of squishy PVC anti-slip draw lining. Not only does it muffle the noise but because it's anti-slip the dice don't roll away either. LOVE. IT. The other nifty way I've seen to keep those dice contained is in little plastic containers. (You can see what I mean here on pinterest. Yes, I'm a pinterest junkie but in my defense I actually use a lot of the ideas I pin.) Just pop a couple of dice in a small plastic container and the noise is minimised and the dice stay in one place.